Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-03-25
7OBACOO IN FRANCE.
Plscs and Manner of Cuitivatipg the Plant.
women In the Factorie. Man ufacture
Under (3oy erumeut Control

women In the Factorie. .-Mau ufacture
Under Gov ernment Control
From the New York Star.
Without repeating all the bright things that |
have been said for and against the use OF to. |
bacco, let us glance at the history of its intro
duction, growth aud use in this country. 1t
was Jean Nicot who, while ambassador 1t
Francis IL. at the Portuguese court in l56S,
obtained the Florida seeds from a Dutchman
at Lisbon. The first monopoly OF the sale OF
tobacco in France was sanctioned by the king
IN 1914, and it continued with bu, little inter.
ruption until 1901. During all that time the
prod uction OF tobacco was forbidden through.
out France except in three provinces Farm
ers, or men who had bought certain share OF
the monopoly, had alone the right OF distri.
button and sale OF the raw material; and the
right OF manu- facture was conferred on seven
privileged towns, of which Paris Hsvre and
Toulon are now the most important In I9l
all government licenses throughout the coun.
try were annulled, says Paris correspondent
Of the New Orleans States, and not until ISL
was the monopoly of tobacco again fully ex-
ercised. In the interval, the growing of to-
bacco, its manufacture and It's sale had been
free
There is story told that Napoleon noticed
at court ball lady very richly covered
with diamonds. He asked her name, and
was told that she was the wife OF NJ. Rooil.
lard, a tobacco manufacturer. Napoleon
thought that, for the future, the worth o, 80
many diamonds would be beneficial TO the
treasury; aud Immediately the tobacco
monopoly was reimPosed. Since that time 1t
has always existed. From ISL dates the
complete organization of the manufacture Of
| tobacco in France. The finaIcs minister OF
| the day has always had under his supervi.
| sion the amount OF taxes accruing from to-
| bacco, and the revenue thus derived has
been considered q part OF the indirect taxa
| tion OF the country. The profit arising from
| the manufacture and sale OF tobacco IS esu
mated at more than 100000.
Formerly tobacco was grown in eight de-
| partments in France IL Is now grown In
nineteen: Alpes- -Maritimes, Bouches-du.
| Rhone, Dordogne, Gironde, Ill.et-N Nilaine,
| lsere, Landes, Lot, Lotst-Gsronne, Meurthe.
et.Moselle, Meuse. Nosees, Nord, Pss.de-
Hsute- Saone, Savoie, Hsute-Savoie and Var.
To these must be added the colony Of Algeria.
This will show that, although tue greater
| number OF departments In which tobacco il
| stronger heat OF the more southern climate
| Is not absolutely necessary for the culture OF
the plant The departments OF Nord and
Pas de. Calais are quite In the north, and the
| III et.N ilaine, Meurthe. .et. .Mosell, Meuse and
Vosges are considerably above Bourges,
which Is said to be the most central town in
the country. As may be supposed, no one
Ii allowed to grow tobacco except by special
permission OF the government And the cul.
tivstors may not employ what seed they
| like; each year they receive seed supposed
to be suitable to the soil in which i. is to be
J planted. NJ. Fresnau, who was recently
} charged by committee OF the Chamber oi
Deputies to inquire into the purchases oi
, | foreign agricultural produce for the public
, | service in France, states, in his report, that,
out OF 50, 600, coo paid for tobacco in the leaf
native grove receive only q, 400, 900, though
| formerly fifteen .slXteenihs OF the purchases
| were those OF + French tobacco. The cultiva
ton OF tobacco in France, he adds, has con
a | siderably diminished
The manufacture is carried on In establish
msnts belonging to the state, and all the
officers, CLERKS and workmen employed ars
I under the control OF the minister OF finance
and OF the "Directeur General des Manutsc
, lures de Tsbscs." This last named officer
| was ii rst appointed in 1SG0. The higher ofh
! GERS in the sd III; illustration are chosen frou
the pupils OF the Polytechnic school, and
they have been taught the mechanical part
of the business by being set to work to make
cigars them selves, SO that they may he versed
in the routine OF the technical details. There
are now sixteen tobacco manufactures in
France at Bordeaux, Cbateaureaux, Dieppe,
Havre, Lille, Lyons, Marseilles, Morlaix,
Nancy, Nantes, Nice, two at Paris Kiom,
Tonnelns aud Toulouse The growing OF
the plant, the storehouse into which the
leaves are taken when they are pulled, and
| the making OF the tobacco, or OF the cigars,
are not under the control OF the same branch
As have said, the sale OF tobacco forms q
| part OF the indirect taxation Of the country
The government buys the leaves IN Hsvans
and makes the cigars in Paris.
| OF the two manufactures here one IL 10
the quarter known as the Gros-Caillou and
the other il at Rsuilly. The manufsctory a
GrosCaillou is on the Quai d'Orssy, on the
left bank OF the river, between the Pont del
Invalides and the Pont de PAlms, and ths
at Reuilly Is in the Rue de Charenton, clos<
to the fortitcstlons at the southeastern extre
mites OF the capital. Since 1857 the bette
class cigars are made at Reuilly, Is sst
II - stA tate slI~s
are made only the common cigars
those sold at three cent?, twt
cents and one cent each. The inferior cigar.
than which nothing poorer can be i'm
as the superior ones the samo amount OF cart
Is suppoved to be given to each, but thu
cheaper article Is put into Q mould, and there
fore made more rapidly. These one and two
cent cigars are, in fact getting to be worst
and worse. Nothing more nauseous could
be found. The manufacture OF these articles
Is state monopoly, and yet the state 10 less
mindful to obtain good tobacco than to find I
most wretched substitute. This substitute Il
and knots and threads Of vegetable matter
| with miscellaneous rank garden rubbish
and, as Swinburne puts II, "the strewings o
lost seasons and dead hours" the whole o
which il carefully hidden In the folds OF
red cabbage leaf.
The French, however, are so patient ant
SO accustomed to these tricks that they dt
not think 1t f" becoming" to get up an sgits
ton on the subject They grumble and pu
| up with poor cigars, and 60 on running thei
| lungs and stomschA On the other hand tn,
Reggie, or National Tobacco manufactory
which has designed, with malice prepense
| that we shall smoke Its horrid cigars, fre
quently make evening raids on the bette
class restaurants, where, after the walnut
and the wine, q foreign cigar may be bad fol
an extra price. And what becomes OF these No
called "foreign" cigars that are seized by tn
government officials 7 Who smokes them
Does the Reggie give them to the city board
OF charities, to DO whitfield by hospital pa
tients1
Women are especially employed In the gov
ernment manufactures, more than nine hun
dred out OF . thousand operatives being
females, and rigid silence IL enforced whill
, | they are at work. The inside OF the cigar Il
! | called Ia tripe, or "gut" the leaves imme
distsly covering the middle part is 10 sous
, cape, or "undercoating," the outer leaf 10 Il
! robe, or " hne garment" When the leaves or,
dried they are given TO the women workers
: who roll up the middle part In their hands
. then put round 1t the sous cape, and after WsT(
the robe, or chosen Leaf A good work
q woman, II she is employed for ten hours
= day, will In that time make $50 cigars. WheI
j. the cigars are finished they are o. examined an,
g are atterwsrd weighed, $50 at . time, 70 %,
Il that they are the prescribed weight The,
are then placed In y drying roo0, wher,
= they remain for SIX months. They are mex
= divided into cisros aud coiorsdoa, light an,